Microsoft has taken in OpenAI’s former CEO Sam Altman shortly after talks of rehiring fell apart at the AI company. He will be leading a new advanced AI research team at Microsoft, announced the company’s chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.
Nadella announced: “We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them.”
We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett…
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023
The Windows maker has also hired Altman’s colleagues from OpenAI including Greg Brockman, the company’s former president and chairman, who resigned shortly after the announcement of Altman’s removal. Nadella says that Microsoft looks forward to providing them with the sources needed for their success.
Altman responded to Nadella’s announcement on social media, saying “The mission continues”, to which Nadella answered by saying that he is excited to have him as the CEO of this new group.
I’m super excited to have you join as CEO of this new group, Sam, setting a new pace for innovation. We’ve learned a lot over the years about how to give founders and innovators space to build independent identities and cultures within Microsoft, including GitHub, Mojang Studios,…
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023
Nadella said: “We’ve learned a lot over the years about how to give founders and innovators space to build independent identities and cultures within Microsoft, including GitHub, Mojang Studios, and LinkedIn, and I’m looking forward to having you do the same.”
Microsoft will be fine without OpenAI: Nadella
At the same time, Nadella has also said that Microsoft will not be hindered, even without OpenAI, reported Financial Review. Microsoft has the capability to operate independently even if its multi-billion-dollar partnership with the troubled artificial intelligence company OpenAI were to unravel, said the chief executive.
He added that although Microsoft has developed a strong interdependence with OpenAI, its association with the entity behind ChatGPT can now be compared to Microsoft’s historic “Wintel” partnership with Intel. While the Wintel collaboration played a pivotal role in shaping Microsoft’s success, it didn’t imply that the software giant lacked its own AI software capabilities as a fallback.
Even though Microsoft is believed to hold a 49% stake in the AI company, OpenAI’s board, devoid of a Microsoft representative, declared over the weekend that Mira Murati, the technology officer, would serve as interim CEO.
Yet, Ms. Murati, who had publicly expressed support for Mr. Altman, is no longer leading the company. She is now replaced by yet another interim CEO, Emmett Shear, becoming OpenAI’s third chief executive within three days.